background: autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder that onset in the first 3 years of life and led to lifelong disability.despite the early onset of symptoms, diagnosis of thissyndromedoes not happenuntil severalyears later, somany childrenlosethe opportunityfor earlyintervention.there arevarious toolsforscreening anddiagnosis, buttheirdesign, strengths and weaknesses aredifferent. the aim of ...

BACKGROUND The prevalence of pervasive developmental disorders has increased in recent years. Links with the measles component of the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine and the cumulative exposure to thimerosal through other vaccines have been postulated. OBJECTIVES The purpose of this work was to estimate the pervasive developmental disorder prevalence in Montreal, Canada, in cohorts born from 19...

CONTEXT Prevalence rates of autism-spectrum disorders are uncertain, and speculation that their incidence is increasing continues to cause concern. OBJECTIVE To estimate the prevalence of pervasive developmental disorders (PDDs) in a geographically defined population of preschool children. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS Survey conducted July 1998 to June 1999 in Staffordshire, England. T...

OBJECTIVE To summarize recent advances about the nature, diagnosis, and treatment of pervasive developmental disorders. METHOD Review of Medline databases, books, and book chapters published between July 1989 and November 1999. RESULTS Clinical and genetic studies support expansion of the concept of autism to include a broader spectrum of social communication handicaps. The prevalence of au...

Our understanding of childhood autism and the related pervasive developmental disorders continues to advance in many areas. Nevertheless, the heterogeneity of phenotypic expression presents many challenges, not least to efforts to ascertain the prevalence of the disorders. There is now wide agreement on, and reliable application of, the diagnostic criteria for childhood autism, but there is les...

Controlling the symptoms that are characteristic of patients with pervasive developmental disorders is often challenging. We report on the safety and efficacy of olanzapine in the treatment of 7 patients with pervasive developmental disorders. The patients were all male and ranged in age from 8 to 52 years. They received olanzapine doses of 5-10 mg/d along with their various other drug regimens...